While there are only two names on the cover of this book, the credit for its development and delivery is shared by many individuals. Michael Loukides, our editor, was pivotal to the success of this book. Without his experience, craft, and guidance, this book would not have been possible.

Many expert technical reviewers helped ensure that the material was technically accurate and true to the spirit of the Java Message Service. Of special note are Joseph Fialli, Anne Thomas Manes, and Chris Kasso of Sun Microsystems, Andrew Neumann and Giovanni Boschi of Progress, Thomas Haas of Softwired, Mikhail Rizkin of International Systems Group, and Jim Alateras of ExoLab. The contributions of these technical experts are critical to the technical and conceptual accuracy of this book. They brought a combination of industry and real-world experience to bear, and helped to make this the best book on JMS published today.

Thanks also to Mark Hapner of Sun Microsystems, the primary architect of Java 2, Enterprise Edition, who answered several of our most complex questions. Thanks to all the participants in the JMS-INTEREST mailing list hosted by Sun Microsystems for their interesting and informative postings.

Special appreciation goes to George St. Maurice of the SonicMQ tech writing team for his participation in organizing the examples for the O'Reilly web site.

Finally, the most sincere gratitude must be extended to our families. Richard Monson-Haefel thanks his wife, Hollie, for supporting and assisting him through yet another book. Her love makes everything possible. David Chappell thanks his wife, Wendy, and their children Dave, Amy, and Chris, for putting up with him during this endeavor.

David Chappell would also like to thank some of the members of the Progress SonicMQ team—Bill Wood, Andy Neumann, Giovanni Boschi, Christine Semeniuk, David Grigglestone, Bill Cullen, Perry Yin, Kathy Guo, Mitchell Horowitz, Greg O'Connor, Mike Theroux, Ron Rudis, Charlie Nuzzolo, Jeanne Abmayr, Oriana Merlo, George St. Maurice—for helping to ensure that the appropriate topics were addressed, and addressed accurately. And special thanks to George Chappell for helping him with "split infinitives."